No. 48

COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT
10 January 2012

 

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has today issued a notice to PANDORA stating that the Company should have informed the market earlier than its Company Announcement No. 30, issued on 2 August 2011, stating that it would not meet its earlier forecast of 30% revenue growth for the full year. 2 August 2011 was the day on which PANDORA announced a change to its financial expectations for the full year and released its condensed financial report for the second quarter 2011 two weeks ahead of the 16 August 2011 scheduled date.

The notice from the FSA follows the reprimand PANDORA received from NASDAQ OMX on 22 December 2011 as stated in Company Announcement No. 47.  Consistent with Danish regulation, the FSA has handed over to the police for further investigation.

PANDORA continues to believe that:

1. it acted properly during a swift and unexpected downturn in sales by making a timely and precise announcement adjusting its annual forecast in light of new information and based on an analysis of the changing market dynamics in July 2011,
2. it has at all times been in full compliance with all relevant rules and regulations for issuers of shares.

At the beginning of July 2011, year-to-date revenue was up 22% against the same period in 2010. Overall company data continued to indicate that the Company's forecast of 30% revenue growth for the full year was reasonable in view of the Company's business plan.  Trading conditions significantly worsened in July 2011, with revenues in July 2011 being down by more than 30% against July 2010. The position at the end of July 2011 caused PANDORA to conclude that it would not be able to meet its full year guidance and, upon this becoming clear, PANDORA acted decisively and in a timely manner by announcing the lowering of its full year financial expectations on 2 August 2011.

Noting that the FSA acknowledges that providing financial guidance involves significant uncertainty and involves a certain element of judgement, the Company looks forward to contributing to the investigation and welcomes this opportunity for a thorough assessment of the judgement made by the Company in August.

The content of this release will have no impact on PANDORA's outlook for 2011, as latest communicated to the market in Company Announcement No. 44.

 

ABOUT PANDORA
PANDORA designs, manufactures and markets hand-finished and modern jewellery made from genuine materials at affordable prices. The PANDORA jewellery is sold in more than 65 countries on six continents through over 10,000 points of sale, including more than 550 PANDORA branded concept stores.

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, PANDORA employs over 5,000 people worldwide of whom 3,600 are located in Gemopolis, Thailand, where the company manufactures its jewellery. PANDORA is publicly listed on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen stock exchange in Denmark. In 2010, PANDORA's total revenue was DKK 6.7 billion (approximately EUR 895 million). For more information, please visit www.pandoragroup.com
 

CONTACT

For further queries, please contact:

 

INVESTOR RELATIONS   Morten Eismark, VP Group Investor Relations Phone +45 3673 8213 Mobile +45 3045 6719

MEDIA RELATIONS   Kasper Riis, VP Group Communications Phone +45 3673 0627 Mobile +45 3035 6728